Thread: Content privacy for site?

When I first started here, all you could see on the homepage was a list of new thread titles (very little information), but you could not access any of the features without signing on with an account. Now, if I am not logged on, I see thread titles plus the beginnings of the messages on the homepage (fewer titles/content, more details about swap meet stuff), I can access profiles, and I can read everything in the Forum but "Student Center," "The Rest," and "Off Topic," which show up as "Private." Is this new wider availability an upgrade transition or a change in policy?

I assumed part of the lockdown on information with the old site was to limit outsider access since Bhuz didn't have a formal moderator personally approving each upload (like the old MEDlist). The search term "belly dance" attracts its share of online weirdos who are looking for a cheap thrill, and I miss the privacy of the previous system.

I may be mistaken, but I thought the forums you listed as private were the only ones that were private before and the others were searchable/viewable by non-members. My faulty-at-times recollection seems to be that it was put into place during an earlier upgrade. Someone with a better memory would have to confirm it to be positive. I remember reading some threads a while back with people discussing which forums were searchable by the public and which were members only.

I thought that "Off Topic" would not turn up in an external search of the site, but you could search it internally after logging on. In other words, if I went to Google and typed "my cat died site:bhuz.com" I might not find anything (assuming someone had posted a thread with that content in "Off Topic"), but if I typed "Fifi Abdo site:bhuz.com," I'd see results for all sorts of posts in "Belly Dance Traditions & Styles," "Instructor Center," " Fan Forum," etc. Even if you found a search result in Google, you were stuck with the cached version unless you had an account. Now it seems like a lot more content is open to read without an account. I know you weren't previously able to pick anything off the home page and get there without signing up and logging on first, regardless of the board's privacy setting.

My recollection is the same as Mahsati's.

I used to check the events directory for years before I actually joined, and I'm sure I couldn't get to the message boards on the yellow layout. I don't remember much about the original layout with the black-and-gold scarab except that the articles were open to the public.

I thought that before Student, instructor, off topic and selling personal items were the only threads not viewable if you were not logged in. You could see everything else, even 'the rest bellydance'. Now I think 'the rest' is private and 'Instructors' isn't. I know as I sometimes bhuz on an iphone and I never log in on that. (iphones too much of a nightmare to operate lol)
..but I could be wrong!

I keep a google notification out on Bluegrass Bellydance and so far everything I have posted and my profile have come up as hits since my business name is in my signature. I alerted Rosey so she could check the setting. I remembered that at one time someone said that Bhuz did not feed to google.